A comparison between the old MiniPlay (top) and the new MiniPlayer with progress bar and volume control (bottom)

Apple has released an update to iTunes 11, bringing improvements to the MiniPlayer, as well as support for multi-disc albums and the ability to view album artwork when in Songs view. The update weighs in at 187.5MB, and is available to download through the Mac App Store’s Updates section, or through Apple’s website.

Release notes:

This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:

– New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.

– Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.

– Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.

This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.

The new volume control on the iTunes MiniPlayerClick the artwork on the left of the MiniPlayer to see it in full